Combination bed and sofa



.my i8, i967 1. w. HOPKINS 3,331,08

COMBINATION BED AND SOFA Filed July 27, 1964 i -2 7- 5 INVENTOR 68 j 54 Jose/H W. Hop/Ns as @sa @a GEVl BY M, 720m 9 72H/a@ i l 5 ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,331,085 CoMBiNArroN BED AND soFA Associates Incorporated, Rockville, Md., a corporation of Maryland Filed `lilly 27, 1964, Ser. No. 385,315

9 Claims. (Cl. 5 8) This invention relates to convertible furniture and more particularly is `directed to a sofa that is convertible into a bed by use of a novel track arrangement installed directly on the door thereby enabling the use of two such beds to provide a double length sofa which is convertible into twin beds by swinging separate seat sections of the sofa from longitudinally aligned, end-toend abutting sitting positions to parallel, side-by-side sleeping positions.

In recent years, it has become the custom to furnish hotel rooms and the like with a convertible combination twin bed or sofa for eliminating the need for separate beds and sofas to conserve space and reduce costs of furnishings. A prior art furniture combination of this type is shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,110,909 to Bendell.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide a novel convertible bed land sofa assembly which is less complicated to construct as compared with the prior art combinations of this type and which is easier to operate and less expensive to install.

More specifically, it is the object of this invention to provide a novel combination bed assembly having a mattress supporting bed frame which is easily and quickly swingable along a guide track construction that is secured to the floor in a `unique arrangement and at all times remains hidden from view by the mattress.

Another object of this invention is to provide a double twin bed and sofa assembly having a novel guide track construction fixed to the oor of the room and a pair of mattress supporting bed frames which are horizontally swingable along the guide track between an end-to-end sitting and a parallel, side-by-side sleeping position.

A further object is to provide in such an assembly telescoping legs on the casters which are guided in the tracks whereby the bed frame is removable readily from the guide track to permit the floor space under the bed frames to be cleaned, but yet will not come olf the track under ordinary swinging movements -of` the frames.

A further and more detailed object of this invention is to provide a mattress supporting bed frame that is guided at the head end of the bed frame by roller assemblies received in straight, channel-shaped guide tracks, one of which is substantially perpendicular to the wall and the other disposed at an angle of about 60 to the irst track whereby the bed is guided along a path which avoids bumping into adjacent furniture and walls and automatically stops in the desired sitting or sleeping positions.

As yet another object, the track assembled on site or at the factory as a unitary member together with a pilot surface for locating the track assembly relative to the Wall.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the claims, and Ifrom the description as it proceeds in connection with the appended drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a pictorial diagrammatic View of a combination twin fbed and sofa assembly adapted to incorporate the present invention and showing a, pair of bed frames and mattresses arranged in longitudinally aligned, end-to-end sitting positions;

FIGURE 2 is a similar View to that of FIGURE 1 but showing both bed frames and mattresses swung to their parallel, side-by-side sleeping positions;

assembly may be either assis-ss Patented July 18, 1967 FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the bed frames of the assembly in a position as shown in FIGURE 1 with the mattresses and bolster omitted to better illustrate details of the novel floor mounted guide track construction for guiding the frame as they are swung between the sitting and sleeping poistions illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 respectively;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the head portions only of the bed frames and guide track construction shown in FIGURE 3 to illustrate further details of the guide track and frame structure; and

FIGURE 5 is a section of a telescopic leg and roller in a guide track taken substantially along line 5 5 of FIGURE 4.

Referring now to FIGURE l, the reference numeral 1t) generally designates a double sofa assembly composed of a pair of twin beds 12 and 14 having their rearward side edges along one wall of a room. A bolster 16 is fixedly mounted either `directly -on the wall or on a suitable frame (not shown) and has a back rest surface 17 which may extend nearly the full length of the beds 12 and 14 when in their abutting, end-to-end, longitudinally aligned positions. Back rest surface 17 may be sloped as is customary to provide a comfortable sitting positions, and extend across a substantial width of the mattresses of beds 12 and 14. Thus, with mattresses of a conventional 39 inch width, surface 17 may extend across as much as half the width to provide a seat depth for the sofa which may be on the order of 15 to 20 inches. Where mattresses of differing widths are used, the depth of bolster 16 should be changed to provide a comfortable seat depth when used as a sofa.

The sleeping position of the pair of beds 12 and 14 with the head end of the mattress adjacent surface 17 of bolster 16, and the sides of two mattresses in adjacent, nearly touching sideaby-side positions is illustrated in FIGURE 2. This position may be readily obtained by swinging the foot end of bed 12 having casters 78 and Sil and the foot end of bed 14 having casters 94 and 96 outwardly away from the wall.

In the furniture arrangement shown in two different positions in FIGURES l and 2, it is evident that the bed 12 or 14 cannot merely pivot about a fixed point when being moved from one position to the other. If the bed frames were to pivot about point A in FIGURE l when moving to the sleeping position as illustrated in FIGURE 2, the head portions of the mattresses would be undesirably located some 15 or 20 inches from the back rest surface 17 of bolster 16.

In accordance with the present invention, a track arrangement is provided on the floor which guides the casters under the head end of the bed. The caster on each bed frame nearest the position A in FIGURE 1 is guided along a path substantially perpendicular to the wall on which bolster 16 is monuted. The other caster at the head end of each bed frame is so guided by a track as to not only correctly position each bed frame in its sofa or sleeping position, but also to provide an easy swinging movement which can be accomplished by the user and one which assures the bed frames will not bump into the wall when being swung from the sleeping position illustrated in FIGURE 2 back to the sofa or sitting position illustrated in FIGURE 1.

As `a further feature, it is highly desirable that the beds be of conventional size and construction to thereby obviate the need for specially designed parts. Therefore, bed frame 20 contemplated for use is illustrated in FIG. URE 3 as being formed from suitable structural angle irons or the like, and may comprise parallel head end rails 22 and foot end rails 24 which are rigidly joined by parallel side frame members 26 and 28 to form a rectangular framework. Diagonal straps 29 may be used at the foot end of each bed frame to support a suitable caster adapted to roll over lthe oor or floor covering that is used. At the head ends of beds 12 and 14, straps 56 and 76 are used to support telescoping rollers assemblies that are adapted for rolling movement along the tracks to be next discussed.

A pair of guide track assemblies 34 and 36, as shown in FIGURE 3, are provided for beds 12 and 14, respectively. Track assembly 34 may be formed in any number of ways, such for example, as rails on which wheels serving as casters roll or from suitable channel irons or the like and may consist of a pair of straight or curved channel-shaped tracks 38 and 40 that are fixed by any suitable means relative to the floor of the room in which assembly is received. Straight tracks are preferred since no special shaping is required.

The track assembly according to this invention requires a first track 38 having a section located between two positionsisuch as front stop member 82 and rear stop member 83 that is mounted at nearly a right angle to the wall on which bolster 16 is mounted. A deviation of 10 to l5 degrees from perpendicular may be used. When bed 12 is in its sitting position as shown in full lines in FIGURE 4, head rail 22 is parallel to track 38 and perpendicular to the wall and side frame members 26 and 28 are parallel to the wall.

As best shown in FIGURE 4, track 38 does not eX- tend outside of rails 22 and 24 in the sitting position of seat section 12 illustrated in FIGURE l and is located sufciently close to head rail 22 as to enable roller assembly 46 on brace 56 to be guided thereby. Roller assembly 46 on brace 56 is located relative to head rail 22 (or the end of its mattress) and side rail 26 (or the side of the mattress) so that bed 12 is swingable through an angle of 90 without interferring engagement with bed 14 or any other piece of furniture that may be substituted in its place. Track 38 terminates at its forward end at stop plate 82 just inside of side frame membe-r 26 and several inches forward of roller assembly 46 when seat section 12 is in its sitting position shown in FIGURE l. Track 38 may terminate at a stop plate 83 since that is the point in track 38 nearest the wall that roller assembly 46 traverses and is where roller assembly 46 stops when bed frame 12 is in its side-by-side sleeping position. The remainder of channel 3S is provided in the illustrated embodiment solely to enable a unitary track assembly to be formed for reasons discussed below.

With continued reference to FIGURE 4, track 40 extends forwardly from the rear of track 38 where roller assembly 48 is located as illustrated in full lines in FIG- URE 4 when bed 12 is in the sitting position and sidewardly at a predetermined angle to define a V-shaped guideway which opens in a direction facing away from the wall. Track 40 in the illustrated embodiment is angularly spaced from track 38 by an angle of about 60 and extends towards the foot end thereof to stop plate 84. When the foot end of bed I2 is swung outwardly to the sleeping position, roller assembly 48 moves outwardly along track 40 to its dotted line position in FIGURE 4 adjacent stop plate 84. At blies 46 and 48 are so positioned that head rail 22 of the bed frame is parallel to the wall.

When bed 12 is in its sitting position, roller assembly 46 is disposed a few inches rearwardly of the forward end of track 3S where stop plate 82 is located, and roller assembly 43 is disposed at the rearward end of track 4t) as best shown in FIGURE 4. When the foot end of bed 12 is swung forwardly from the wall mounting back -rest 16, roller assembly 48 moves in contact against surface 41 along its delimited path defined by track 40 causing roller assembly 46 to move forwardly to the location of stop plate 82 until the imaginary line between roller assemblies 48 and 46 is perpendicular to track 40. From that point on, roller assembly 48 moves in contact against this position, roller assem.

surfaces 42 of track thereby forcing roller assembly 46 to move rearwardly to the position of stop plate 83 as roller assembly 48 advances to stop plate 84. The position of stop plate 84 in guide 40 and/or stop plate 83 in guide 38 stops the swinging movement of the bed at its desired sleeping position. Stop plate 82 is not required since roller assembly 48 in track 4t) prevents roller assembly 46 from rolling too far in a forward direction.

In swinging bed 12 from its sleeping to its sitting position, roller assembly 48 is forced against surface 43 of track 40 to thereby urge roller assembly 46 to move rapidly away from the wall sothat corner 45 of the bed frame will not run against the wall. As the foot of the bed frame approaches the wall, roller assembly 46 moves -rearwardly from its most forward position at stop plate 82 to its position as illustrated in FIGURE 4.

Since bed 14 and its track guiding construction may be identical to that described for bed 12 except that its parts are oppositely arranged, a separate description for bed 14 will not be given.

Track assemblies 34 and 36 may, if desired, be assembled in a unitary construction to enable their assembly on the floor of the roorn as a unit and eliminate possible errors in location if each is laid separately. Strap 85 may be provided to support the open ends of the guide assembly in their desired positions, and base plate 87 may be provided to anchor the adjacent ends of tracks 38 and 40 in their desired relative position. Base plate 87 may further be provided where desired with a pilot surface 89 to locate the track assembly in its desired position relative to the wall.

A similar separate assembly may be provided for bed 14. In those cases where two beds are to be mounted together as illustrated in FIGURES `l and 2, the two base plates 87 may be mounted in abutting posit-ions to thereby locate the two track assemblies at the proper position on the floor of the room. The track assemblies may then be .fastened to the floor, through the oor covering, if any, by suitable fastener means.

To keep beds 12 and 14 from inadvertently swinging forwardly when in their sitting position, a latch mechanism (not shown) having one part on the wall and a second portion on the bed frame facing the wall, may be used which can be easily released from the foot end of the bed Referring now to FIGURE 5, the telescopic supporting roller assemblies 46 that extend under straps 56 and 76 may comprise a pair of coaxially telescoping tubular members 50 and 52 and a smooth surfaced roller such as ball 54. Sleeve 50 is rigidly xed at its upper end as by welding to the under lsurface of corner strap 56 which is fixed to i frame member 26 and head end rail 22. Sleeve 50 extends downwardly at right angles from strap 56 and slidably receives shaft 52.

Shaft 52 may be formed with Va uniformly diametered section 60 and provided with a roller member such as ball 54 mounted in a socket. In assembled relation, ball 54 is in rolling engagement with a preferably flat, upper surface 66 in channel member `38 `forming a part of trackI 38 discussed above. Side rails on the track guide the rolling ball along the length of track 38.

With continuing reference to FIGURE V5, outer sleeve 50 may be formed with a lower conical end section 68 defining a circular opening 69 through which sleeve 52 slidably extends and a uniformly diametered tubular section 7 0 extending upwardly from end section 68 and having a somewhat larger diameter than the diameter of opening 69. A collar 72 xed to the upper end of inner sleeve 52 received in tubular section 70 is adapted to abnttingly engage the inner periphery of conical lsection 68 when roller assembly 46 is lifted clear of track 38 to prevent sleeve 52 from falling out of sleeve 50. Collar 72, in normal use, abuts against the lower surface of strap S6 to serve as the load supporting member of the telescoping roller or caster assembly.

For assembly, inner sleeve 60 is inserted through the open top of outer sleeve 70 and thereafter the upper end of outer sleeve 70 is secured as by welding to brace 56.

It is recognized that the described roller assembly is illustrative only and other equivalent telescopic assemblies may be used to prevent roller 54 from coming out of the track when the bed frame is only slightly tilted, and yet which enables the bed to be removed from the track when desired vfor cleaning under the bed.

The construction of roller assembly 48 is the same as that just described for roller assembly 46 and hence will not be separately described. The location of roller assemblies 46 and 48 on their respective mounting plates may not necessarily be identical since their precise position for the desired operation must be determined together with the shape, orientation and location of the tracks.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as being embodied in a dual twin bed sofa combination, the novel track arrangement may advantageously be used with a single twin bed adjacent a piece of fixed furniture which may serve as an end table when the bed is arranged as a sofa and night table when the bed is swung out to its sleeping position. Stich a piece of furniture is located immediately adjacent the end of the sofa where the head end of the companions sofa is positioned in the illustrated arrangement to be merely substituted for the second twin bed.

The invention may be therefore embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The ,present embodiment is accordingly to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. In combination with a piece of furniture, a sofa comprising a bed frame together with a bed size mattress and supporting casters located in a room adjacent a wall and beneath a bolster that has a back rest surface which extends along a substantial portion of the length of said mattress and extends over a substantial portion of the mattress width to provide, when the bed frame is in a first position with one side parallel and closely spaced to the wall, a sofa having a seat depth considerably less than the width of the mattress with the head end of the mattress closely adjacent one side of said piece of furniture, and wherein the foot portion of the bed frame is swingable away from the wall through an angle of 90 to a second position where the mattress head portion is parallel to and spaced from the wall to thus be located at said back rest surface on the bolster and the other side of the bed frame is closely adjacent said one side of said piece of furniture, and means for controlling the path of movement of said bed frame as it swings between said first and second position and back again comprising a pair of tracks fixedly mounted relative to each other and to the floor, each track of said pair `continuously engaging a caster under the head portion of said bed frame and being so located as to be under the bolster and mattress at all positions of the bed frame, one track of said pair extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to said wall, and the other track of said pair being at an acute angle to said wall and oriented so that when the foot portion is swung toward said wall as the bed frame is moved from said second position to said first position, the caster in said one track is forced away from the wall a distance sufiicient to prevent the mattress from abutting the wall while locating the bed in said first position. Y

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein each of the casters engaging said tracks comprises a roller member mounted on a telescopic leg formed of a pair of telescoping, relatively slidable members, one of said members containing said roller member that moves along said track and the other of said slidable members being secured at its upper end to the bed frame and provided at its lower end with means to prevent said one member from separating therefrom so that -the roller member does not become inadvertently removed from its associated track resulting from a slight amount of lifting during normal swinging movement of the bed frame, but is removable from said track by sufficient lifting of the bed frame to thereby enable cleaning under the bed.

3. The combination as defined in claim 2 wherein the tracks comprise channel members having a central portion and two upstanding side wal-ls and the casters comprise roller members located between the upstanding side walls to roll along the center portion of each channel member, and the channel members are fastened securely to the fioor of said room.

4. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein the pair of tracks for said bed frame define a substantially -shaped track formation that opens away from the wall, the ends of said tracks adjacent the wall being anchored to a base member and the opposite ends of said tracks being joined together by a rigid brace member.

5. The combination as defined in claim 4 wherein the base member :has a pilot surface engaging the wall for locating the tracks relative to said bolster.

6. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said tracks are formed from straight channel members that are disposed to form an angle of approximately and the casters at the head end of the bed frames are mounted inside mattress supporting rails on said bed frame but sufficiently near the corners to prevent til-ting of the bed frames.

7. In combination with a piece of furniture, a sofa comprising a bed frame together with a bed size mattress and supporting casters located in a room adjacent a wall and beneath a bolster that has a back rest surface which extends along a substantial portion of the length of said mattress and extends over a substantial portion of the mattress width to provide, when the bed frame is in a first position with one side parallel and lclosely spaced to the wall, a sofa having a seat depth considerably less than the width of the mattress with the head end of the mattress closely adjacent one side of said piece of furniture, and wherein the foot portion of the bed frame is swingable away from the wall through an angle of to a second position where the mattress head por-tion is parallel to and spaced from the wall to thus be located at said back rest surface on the bolster and the other side of the bed frame is closely adjacent said one side of said piece of furniture, and means for controlling the path of movement of said bed frame as it swings between said first and second position and back again comprising a pair of tracks fixedly mounted relative to each other and to the floor, each ytrack of said pair continuously engaging a caster under the head portion of said bed frame and being so located as to be under the bolster and the mattress at all positions of the bed frame, one track of said pair extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to said wall, and the other track of said pair being at an acute angle -to the one track and oriented so that when the foot portion is swung away from the wall, the caster in said one track is forced away from the wall a first distance and thereafter moves toward the wall a greater distance than said first distance to thereby locate the head portion of the mat-tress at the back rest surface on said bolster, and when the foot portion is swung toward said wall as the bed frame is moved from said second position to said first position, the caster in said one track is forced away from the wall a distance sufiicient to prevent the mattress from abut-ting the wall while locating the bed in said first position.

8. A combination twin bed and sofa assembly comprising a pair of twin 'bed frames together with twin bed size mattresses and supporting casters located in a room adjacent a wall and beneath a bolster that has a back rest surface which extends along a portion of the length of 7 each of said mattresses and extends over a substantial portion of the mattress width to provide, when the bed frames are in an end-to-end relation with one side of each parallel and closely spaced to the wall, a sofa having a seat depth considerably less than the width of the mattresses, and wherein the foot portions of the -twin bed frames are swingable away from the wall through an angle of 90 to position the mattresses in a side-by-side location with the head portion of each bed parallel to and spaced from the wall to thus be located at said back rest surface on the bolster; and means for controlling the path of movement of each frame as it swings between the end-to-end sofa position and the side-by-side twin bed position and back again comprising a pair of tracks fixedly mounted relative to each other and to the floor, the casters under the foot portion of each bed frame rolling freely over the oor, each track of said pair continuously guiding the movement of a caster under the head portion of said bed and being so located as to be under the kbolster and mattress at all positions of the -bed frame, one track of one pair being substantially parallel to one track of the other and both of said one tracks extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the wall, and the other track of each pair being on opposite sides of the parallel tracks at an acute angle to the wall and oriented so -that when the foot portion is swung away from the wall, the caster in said one track moves rst away from the wall a rst distance and thereafter moves toward the wall a distance greater than said first distance to thereby locate the head portion of the mattress at the back rest surface on the bolster.

9. A combination twin bed and sofa assembly comprising a pair of twin bed frames together with twin bed size mattresses and -two supporting casters at the foot end of each bed frame adapted for rolling on a flat surface and two supporting casters at the head end of each frame, each of said head end supporting casters positioned in a separate track, said bed frame being located in a room adjacent a wall and beneath a bolster mounted on said wall and provided with a back rest surface which extends along a portion of the length of each of said mattresses and extends over a substantial portion of the mattress width to provide, when the bed frames are in an end-to-end relation with one side of each parallel land closely spaced to the wall, a sofa having a seat depth considerably less than the width of the mattresses, and wherein the foot portions of the twin bed frames are swingable away from the wall through an angle of 90 to position the mattresses in a side-by-side location with the head portion of each bed parallel to and spaced from the wall to thus be located at said back rest surface on the bolster; and means for controlling the path of movement of each bed frame as it swings between the end-to-end sofa position and. the side-by-side twin bed position and back again compr1s1ng a pair of straight tracks xedly mounted relative to each other and to the floor, the casters under the foot portion of each bed frame rolling freely over the floor, each track o of said pair being formed of a channel member having upstanding side walls for continuously guiding the movement of its associated caster and being located under the bolster and the mattress at all positions of the bed frame, one

track of one `pair beingparallel to one track of the other Y and -both of said one -tracks extending ini a direction substantially perpendicular to the wall, and the other track of each pair being on opposite sides of the parallel tracks and at an acute angle to said wall and oriented to form a V-shaped track formation for each bed frame so that when the foot portion is swung away from the wall, the caster in said one track moves first in a direction away from the wall a first distance and thereafter moves toward the wall a distance greater than said rst distance to therel by locate the head portion of the mattress adjacent the back rest surface on the bolster, and so that when the foot portion is swung toward said wall of the caster in said other track forces the mattress away from the wall a distance suicient to prevent the mattress from abutting the wall while locating the bed frames in said end-to-end location, said tracks being joined together as a unitary struc-1 ture and containing a reference surface abutting said wall for locating the position of said tracks on the oor, and

said supporting casters at the head end of each frame being mounted on a telescopic leg so that the caster does not become inadvertently removed from its associated track from a slight amount of lifting during normal swinging movement of the bed frame but is removable from the channel by sufficient lifting of the bed frame to thereby enable cleaning under the bed frame, said tele-` scopic leg comprising a pair of telescoping, relatively slidable members, one of said members containing an upper weight supporting surface and at its lower end a roller that moves along said track and the other of said members being secured at its upper end to the bed frame and provided at its -lower end with means to prevent said one member from separating therefrom.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,633,581 4/1953 St. Martin. 2,691,174 10/1954 Harrison 5-8 X 2,783,480 3/1957 Shankman 5-20 2,909,789 10/1959 Bailey 5-8 3,041,633 7/1962 Bendell 5-2 3,110,909 11/1963 Bendell 5-8 X 3,113,324 12/1963 Kamp et al 5-3 FOREIGN PATENTS 658,754 3/1963 Canada. 682,469 3/1964 Canada.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner. FRANK B. SHERRY, Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A PIECE OF FURNITURE, A SOFA COMPRISING A BED FRAME TOGETHER WITH A BED SIZE MATTRESS AND SUPPORTING CASTERS LOCATED IN A ROOM ADJACENT A WALL AND BENEATH A BOLSTER THAT HAS A BACK REST SURFACE WITH EXTENDS ALONG A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF THE LENGTH OF SAID MATTRESS AND EXTENDS OVER A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION TO THE MATTRESS WIDTH TO PROVIDE, WHEN THE BED FRAME IS IN A FIRST POSITION WITH ONE SIDE PARALLEL AND CLOSELY SPACED TO THE WALL, A SOFA HAVING A SEAT DEPTH CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN THE WIDTH OF THE MATTRESS WITH THE HEAD END OF THE MATTRESS CLOSELY ADJACENT ONE SIDE OF SAID PIECE OF FURNITURE, AND WHEREIN THE FOOT PORTION OF THE BED FRAME IS SWINGABLE AWAY FROM THE WALL THROUGH AN ANGLE OF 90* TO A SECOND POSITION WHERE THE MATTRESS HEAD PORTION IS PARALLEL TO AND SPACED FROM THE WALL TO THUS BE LOCATED AT SAID BACK REST SURFACE ON THE BOLSTER AND THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BED FRAME IS CLOSELY ADJACENT SAID ONE SIDE OF SAID PIECE OF FURNITURE, AND MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE PATH OF MOVEMENT 